Pine Ridge Cemetery, which was founded in 1906, is the oldest pet cemetery continuously run by an animal welfare agency in the country. And although it may be a terrifying place for trick-or-treaters, the numbers of people coming to bury pets has never been higher.

Patrick Anderson

Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery Caretaker Michael Thomas insists ghosts play no part in keeping neighborhood children away from his house on Halloween.

But every year the candy he’s purchased for potential trick-or-treaters goes untouched.

“This isn’t Stephen King. There aren’t any ghost kitties,” Thomas said Tuesday from the cemetery, where he works and lives. “But I can understand why kids might be a little scared of it and find an easier place to get candy”.

Pine Ridge Cemetery, which was founded in 1906, is the oldest pet cemetery continuously run by an animal welfare agency in the country. And although it may be a terrifying place for trick-or-treaters, Thomas says the numbers of people coming to bury pets has never been higher.

“More and more people these days have pets and more and more are choosing burial or cremation when they die,” Thomas said. “You can see it on TV and in the number of products in stores; more people are considering their pet a member of the family.”

The cemetery is run by the Animal Rescue League of Boston, whose founder, Anna Harris Smith first purchased 26 acres in Dedham in 1906. Smith envisioned the cemetery complimenting a shelter for neglected pets and a rest home for retired horses.

Today the cemetery remains, along with the Stafford Memorial Animal Care and Adoption Center.

Pine Ridge doesn’t have too many celebrity pets, but the reputation of its most recognizable pet owner may be enough to scare some kid away. Lizzie Borden, the Fall River woman accused and acquitted of murdering her parents with an axe in 1892, buried three dogs at the cemetery.

The animals’ headstone, which is a miniature replica of the Borden family’s human grave in Fall River, sits by itself in a secluded corner of the graveyard.

Other notable burials at Pine Ridge include Drolet, the dog of former Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Serge Koussevitzky, and Igloo, the fox terrier of Admiral Richard Byrd, a Charles Lindbergh-era aviator who took his dog on explorations of the North Pole.

Thomas estimated that the original section of the cemetery, in which the sale of new plots ended in 1973, contains the remains of around 20,000 pets. He said dogs outnumber cats, but cats are gaining.

The new section of the cemetery, which faces Pine Street and the Noble and Greenough School, was opened in 1980 and is currently around half full, Thomas said. He estimates around 200 to 250 burials are performed each year.

Tastes in pet names have changed quite a bit in the more than 100 years of burials at the cemetery.

Lizzie Borden named her 19th century dogs Donald Stuart, Royal Nelson and Laddie Miller, but a sample of names from the early 1990’s includes Squigy, Mungo and Cuddles.

“It goes in cycles where we will get a whole lot of ‘Spots’ and ‘Fluffies,’” Thomas said. “Then we will get more people names.”

The Animal Rescue League of Boston’s primary mission is providing shelter for abandoned pets, facilitating adoptions and caring for injured animals. In addition to the shelter in Dedham, the league runs facilities in Boston and Cape Cod.

“We take care of animals, but also their human companions,” Animal Rescue League of Boston spokesman Jennifer Wooliscroft said. “For a lot of people who opt to bury their pets in a more formal setting, there is something beneficial to meditating on a pets life.”

In addition to selling lots for burials, which range from $550 to $900, Pine Ridge Cemetery also performs cremations, from $100 to $190.

Thomas first started working as a caretaker at Pine Ridge in 1970. Happy working outdoors and helping people get through the death of an animal, what started out as a summer job turned into a career.

“I was fortunate to find a job that I really liked to do,” Thomas said. “It’s a pet cemetery, but it’s a people business.”